Sally Spins ~ A Food Blog with a Lifestyle Spin

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KATE SPADE

These treats might give slutty brownies a run for their money.

Loving this girl’s interview with Self Magazine.

Hoping my mom gives in to buying a new pair of glasses here.

Going to eat at one of my favorite restaurants tonight.

Sign me up for a self-driving car.

Would you get a self-driving car?

Maybe it’s not always about trying to fix something broken. Maybe it’s about starting over and creating something better.

UNKNOWN

I will admit I like looking into other people’s grocery carts. What other people eat is just so fascinating to me. I bet I turned a few heads tonight when I checked out buying a package of Oreos, brownie mix, and chocolate chip cookie dough. Yikes, what a sugar load! It’s all for a good cause because I am making my co-worker Slutty Brownies for his birthday tomorrow.

Tonight I am sticking to a much healthier option. I love being able to slightly change a recipe and get a whole new option out of it. For dinner I turned my Black Bean Burger recipe into…

Black Bean Tacos

Ingredients:

1 (15.25 ounce) can black beans

1 Tablespoon garlic, minced

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

¼ cup breadcrumbs

¼ cup quick oats

Directions:

1. In a food processor, combine beans, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

2. Stir in breadcrumbs and oats.

3. Crumble mixture over greased baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

4. Fill taco shells with mixture and desired toppings.

5. Enjoy!

It amazes me how different one recipe can be depending on what it is paired with.

I do not miss the meat one bit in the tacos. The bean filling is bursting with Mexican flavors.

They could even be misconstrued to be meat-filled because they are so hearty.

I honestly can’t say which version of the recipe I liked more. They were both amazing in their own right.

Have you ever tried a vegan taco?

We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.

DR. SEUSS

Everyone has a favorite body part, and mine just happens to be my hands. Growing up I dreamed of becoming a hand model. The thoughts of lotion commercials, holding products at just the right angle for the perfect sell, or the dream job of being the hands holding the apple on the Twilight book just appealed to me. I have unusually large hands for a woman, so I thought that could only help when it came to holding a large container of orange juice.

My dreams were crushed when reality set in. I am way to accident prone to be a hand model.

What did I do to my hand? Is that a burn mark?

Knowing that realization, I turned to something I could put my hands to good use for….food blogging. I can easily sneak a finger or two into some shots, but sometimes the food speaks for itself like these…

Black Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

1 (15.25 ounce) can black beans

1 Tablespoon garlic, minced

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

¼ cup breadcrumbs

¼ cup quick oats

Directions:

1. In a food processor, combine beans, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

2. Stir in breadcrumbs and oats.

3. Form mixture into patties.

4. Heat skillet, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, on medium-low heat. Cook patty for 5 minutes on each side.

5. Enjoy!

These can be dressed up with any of your favorite burger toppings. I choose Dijon mustard, spinach, and some Wickles relish. Yum!

I opted to ditch the egg and keep these burgers totally vegan, and they held up really well without it.

They also keep really well, so you can make them all at once and easily heat them up for lunch later. Score!

I have tried many frozen black bean burger varieties, but this version is so much better. It is meatier and more filling compared to the compact frozen ones.

What is your favorite alternative burger?

All ending are also beginnings, we just don’t know it at the time.

MITCH ALBOM

Yesterday was full of surprises! Running late for work, I did not have time to promote my daily blog on my social media outlets. Later that evening, when I went to check my stats for the day, I was blown away at my page views. I got right to the bottom to see where the traffic was coming from, and I could not believe my eyes when I saw that Lexi Petronis, from Glamour.com, had written a piece on my BLT Bites under the Heath & Diet section.

Lexi stumbled across my recipe on Pinterest and shares similar views to bacon as I do. I am so thankful she decided to share it. To view the full article click here.

Speaking of Pinterest, our boss surprised us with cupcakes today to celebrate my co-workers anniversary, and I knew just how I wanted to eat them. Here is where I got my inspiration.

The Proper Way to Eat a Cupcake

Start by choosing the perfect specimen. Ours came from Gigi’s Cupcakes, and they were so moist!

I selected a pink Miss Princess cupcake because I could not resist the strawberry flavored cake, but the cream cheese frosting did not hurt either.

The next step is to slice the cupcake in half.

When doing so, try and aim for even halves of cake.

Sandwich the frosting between two slices of cake.

Pick up and enjoy!

I have to admit this is a really easy way to eat a cupcake. There was no mess of frosting at all.

This might be life changing…

I guess they say practice makes perfect, so I will report back after my next cupcake fix.

How do you eat your cupcakes?

I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but I knew the woman I wanted to become.

DIANE VON FURSTENBERG

I don’t know if anyone noticed, but I kind of took a week off from cooking. Blame it on being sick, traveling, or friends’ birthdays, but I did a lot of eating out last week. So this week is going to be all about the fresh produce, like the kind that comes crawling with caterpillars from our backyard.

Chris did not find the bugs in his salad to be as amusing, discarding them in a bush where they belong.

At least I didn’t have to worry about dodging the bugs when it came to my side dish, since the produce came straight from the grocery store (Wal-Mart wouldn’t dare have bugs in their food).

Broccoli Cauliflower Salad

Ingredients:

3 cups broccoli, chopped

2 cups cauliflower, chopped

1 cup onion, chopped (optional)

1 cup golden raisins

½ cup Greek yogurt

½ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup agave nectar

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Directions:

1. In a large bowl combine broccoli, cauliflower, and onion.

2. Top with raisins.

3. Mix in yogurt, mayonnaise, agave nectar, and vinegar. Chill for 30 minutes.

4. Enjoy!

My perfect dinner plate includes a huge portion of veggies, so this broccoli salad fit right in tonight.

This cool, sweet salad leaves my taste buds wanting more on a hot, summer night, and since it is made with healthy Greek yogurt, I don’t mind piling it up.

Almost every bite has a chewy raisin paired with the crispy vegetables. That’s my kind of salad!

Tonight there wasn’t a clean plate in the house. Yummy!

What’s your favorite dinner side?

Home is where your mom is.

UNKNOWN

Happy Mother’s Day Mom! You’re the best mother a girl could ask for.

Thanks for being so supportive of me my whole life, especially of my blog project!

Here are this week’s pins:

Wheelbarrow Turned Beverage Cooler: When it comes to beverage coolers, the bigger the better. I love this rustic twist.

Coral and Teal Outfit: Colored shorts are so easy to live in during the summer. I love this teal and coral pairing.

Hanging Sunflower Ball: Being a Kansas girl, I love anything sunflower related. I had similar decorations at my wedding. I just wish I would have thought to use sunflowers.

Instagram Magnets: What a fun way to showcase your pictures by turning them into magnets.

Sleek High Ponytail: I love a good poof with a ponytail. This is a perfect example.

Lighter Butterscotch Bars: Mmmm…Butterscotch is one of my favorite sweets. I was so excited to see this lighter version.

A Heart Shape Building Covered by Glass and Grass: This building blows my mind. It looks so tiny, but it actually a fairly large building.

Monogram Necklace: I love anything with a monogram. I have been pinning for one of these necklaces for over a year now.

Knock You Naked Brownies: I can’t get over how much caramel is oozing out of those brownies!

Scalloped Skirt: This skirt is just precious. I love how the scallop detail is featured at the top and bottom of the skirt.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookie Treats: These are also known as Puppy Chow Cookies, so I don’t think it gets much better.

Neon Zipper: I adore the neon zipper with the muted gray dress. It is so simple and right on trend.

Chalkboard Menu: I don’t know if I am brave enough to put chalkboard paint right on my cabinet, but I would love to have a framed board to put menus on just like this.

Coconut Poke Cake: Coconut cake is a birthday tradition in my household. The coconut shavings on this cake leave my mouth watering.

1 Simple Ingredients = No More Icky Pans: Trying this method is on my To-Do list.

How does your family celebrate Mother’s Day?